The engines produced a total of 23,000 indicated horsepower (17,000 kW) that was designed to give a maximum speed of 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph).

Her secondary armament of ten BL 6-inch (152 mm) Mk XI guns was arranged in single casemates.

[8] She was involved in the pursuit of the German battlecruiser Goeben and light cruiser Breslau at the outbreak of World War I, but was ordered not to engage them.

[9] On 10 August Duke of Edinburgh and her sister ship HMS Black Prince were ordered to the Red Sea to protect troop convoys arriving from India.

[10] While escorting a troop convoy from India to France in November 1914, Duke of Edinburgh provided cover to three battalions of infantry that seized the Turkish fort at Cheikh Saïd at the entrance to the Red Sea.

[12] The ship spotted the disabled German light cruiser SMS Wiesbaden at 6:08 and fired twenty rounds at her.

[14] After the battle, Duke of Edinburgh was attached to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron and remained at sea until 2 June, searching for disabled ships.

The Germans planned to bombard the port of Sunderland on 19 August, with extensive reconnaissance provided by airships and submarines.

The Germans broke off their planned attack to pursue a lone British battle squadron reported by an airship, which was in fact the Harwich Force under Commodore Tyrwhitt.

After Jutland the 2nd Cruiser Squadron, now including Duke of Edinburgh, was ordered to reinforce the patrols north of the Shetland Islands against German blockade runners and commerce raiders.

[9] She was transferred to the North America and West Indies Station in August 1917 for convoy escort duties,[17] where she remained for the duration of the war.

Upon her return, Duke of Edinburgh was stationed in the Humber,[9] before she was sold for scrap on 12 April 1920 and broken up at Blyth in Northumberland.